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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-03-07 Community Preservation Committee Minutes Community Preservation Committee Minutes of March 7, 2024 Present: Chairman William Callahan, John Simons, Ron Rudis, Terrance Holland, Rick Green. Tim Tschirhart, John Mabon, Adam Bagni. Absent: Tracy Watson Staff: Zach Melcher William Callahan called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm and read the guidelines for receiving comments from the public. Formal Application Review— Rec Plex - Denise Case, Deputy Town Manager gave a brief presentation explaining the history and funding plan of the project. Discussion took place regarding ongoing litigation with the neighbors. J. Simons expressed concerns on bonding a CPC project for 25 years. W. Callahan stated that there was a very motivated litigant who filed multiple challenges as to what could be built with CPC funds, planning process and land use cases. There were several issues that delayed this project. J. Simons suggested holding a meeting where members could go into executive session about the impact of litigation on the boards decision. T. Holland asked to see numbers comparing bonding for 5 years versus 25 years. North Andover Citizen Newspaper Digitization Project - Robin Siegel and Lindsey Mayo, of the North Andover Historical Society explained the benefit of digitizing the micro film from the North Andover Citizen Newspaper from 1965-2005. This would preserve the history of North Andover and be accessible to everyone. J. Simmons questioned if this is considered historical. The newspapers themselves and microfilm are very fragile. W. Callahan will have Town Council review for applicability. Town Common Stage - Laurie Burzlaff, Assistant Town Manager distributed pictures of what the stage could potentially look like. Ms. Burzlaff discussed the requested funding and suggested that if the project was funded for an additional $15,000 -$20,000 it would provide a cushion. The current estimate is for concrete only for a 15' x 40' stage, six hundred square feet in total. Stamp the top and veneers on the side so it looks like it is all built from brick or stone. J. Simons would like to see a better picture of what is being funded. The plan would need to be approved by the Old Center Historic District Commission. The new stage would be slightly bigger, but would be at the same location as current stage. Not being proposed with a roof,just replacing the current stage. Patriots Park— Leslie Frasier reviewed a revised plan for Patriot Park improvements. The North Andover Improvement Society will be the ones submitting the application. The proposal is now a one- year plan to preserve and restore the Olmsted plan. The maintenance projects were removed from the application. The application is for removing hazards and restoring plants. Stevens Library North Lawn - Kathleen Keenan, Library Director and Eva Hamori, Library Trustee and Chairperson of the Building Committee, explained an addendum to the original application. The original plan outlined value-added items that can be taken away, and other costs that could be potentially donated. The biggest issue is the contingency cost that comes with the project. Hopefully it will not be needed and can be given back. W. Callahan asked what the new number would look like. The architect's estimate would be $765,683. What is a realistic number that could be raised by donations? There is much support in the community with small and larger donations. W. Callahan gave an update on the Boston Hill Road project. The project originally came before us last year and was briefly discussed again this year. The Trustees contacted the land owner. They had received an opinion of assessment and the landowner was no longer interested in continuing the process. The Town had funds for an assessment of the property, but the owner did not want an assessment to go forward. CPC Financials—W. Callahan displayed a summary of the FY25 Applications, fund balance and projected revenue. All projects were displayed showing funding requests. Total Open Space/Rec requests totals $2,098,698, Historic Preservation totals $674,840, Affordable Housing totals $800,000 and RecPlex is $5,914,748 (bonded). Funding options for the RecPlex were discussed. Net fund balance is approximately 7.6 million, projected revenue is $11.3 million. W. Callahan will send a request to the Town Manager regarding bonding schedules for 5 years, 10 years and 25 years. W. Callahan reviewed the CP-2 Report from the Division of Local Services which can be found online. This report shows each municipality and their CPC funding and expenditures. T. Holland asked if there was any additional information regarding The Meeting House application. Town counsel stated that the structure set out by The Meeting House meets the constitutional test by the Meeting House application. The committee is free to fund the project however they see fit. W. Callahan will send out the information. MOTION - T. Holland made a motion to approve the February 8" 2024 meeting minutes. Seconded by R. Green. All in favor,vote 8-0 MOTION — R. Green made a motion to approve the February 13t" 2024 meeting minutes, seconded by T. Holland. All in favor,vote 8-0. MOTION - J. Simons made a motion to adjourn, seconded by A. Bagni. All in favor, vote 8-0.